A Moms Demand Action sign hangs on Bunky's Automotive, a business owned by the father of Daniel Pritchard, who was murdered in 2009.

Saturday will mark a grim anniversary. Feb. 22, 2009 will be five years since a robbery left a 29-year-old gas station attendant dead. That winter, a pair allegedly weaved through Essex County committing five robberies before they robbed and shot Daniel Pritchard at the Claridge Sunoco in Verona. In the weeks after, police arrested and charged Newark residents Tariq Kyam, who also goes by Raymond Perry, and David Fate for the murder. In the half-decade since, the case has moved through the courts and a trial is looming.

In January, Daniel's father Chuck, who owns Bunky's Automotive Service in Verona, spoke to the Times. The window of his automotive shop faces the Sunoco station where his son was killed.

Daniel's parents have joined groups that have helped them deal with their grief as well as reform gun laws.

"One of the things that helped my wife stay sane was actually talking to other people who have gone through the tragedy of losing a child," he said, adding that the two have joined the Morris County chapter of The Compassionate Friends.

The parents also set up the Daniel Pritchard Foundation, which has funded Verona High School graduates and a homeless aid organization over the years. While they still give money to Verona High School each year, there haven't been recent fundraisers, he said.

His wife is planning an August fundraiser for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a group founded to lobby for reforms in gun laws.

Currently, Pritchard said, it's too easy for people with criminal records to obtain a gun. For instance, in 1982, Kyam was convicted of murder, according to a previous report in the Times.

"The laws are not appropriate for what we're talking about," Pritchard said.

Surveillance cameras mounted on poles should be used more widely, he said, pointing out that Kyam and Fate drove around for weeks with a stolen car before they came to Verona.

"Maybe the surveillance functions that they have on these different cameras could be put into effect in a way that they could prevent crime," Pritchard said.

In 2010, a grand jury returned a 36-count indictment against the pair.

The following year, Fate fingered Kyam as the shooter and pleaded guilty to some of the robbery counts in exchange for a 28-year jail sentence.

Following testimony from 2011 and 2012, the court's recorder malfunctioned and Fate's testimony changed, creating even more confusion.

In the latest round of hearings, Kyam's counsel asked for the robbery and murder charges to be tried separately, which the judge approved in December 2013.

Jury selection has continued through February and a trial date could be set as soon as this month, according to Essex County Public Defender John McMahon.

Verona Police Chief Doug Huber said the department works on major crimes with a county-wide task force. They worked with the Prosecutor's office to help link the gun used in the crime to other robberies.

"I'd like to see it come to an end so it's over for the family," Huber said. "And I'm confident that what the task force put together is enough to convict this guy."

The Sunoco station's owner, Elyce Cole, declined to speak on the record. But shortly after the murder, she told the Times that Pritchard had been working there on-and-off for more than a decade.

Kathi Papaleo, a former Verona resident who said she went to elementary and high school with Chuck Pritchard, called the incident tragic, especially when it involved a family so rooted in the town.

"For this to happen to Chuck and his family, it makes it even more heartbreaking," she said.

Though she has since moved to Florida, Papaleo said this kind of crime leaves a lasting legacy in a town she remembers for its bucolic characteristics.